This Week's Word & Thought: Heroes

Recent events in our nation and in the world demonstrate even more the need to reach out and actively voice love and acceptance.  We start with our families and friends as well as each other and those we interact with on a daily basis. 

Here are four of my top heroes in life and a quote from each on this topic. 

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.  People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.  – Nelson Mandela

You must not lose faith in humanity.  Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. – Mahatma Gandhi

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.  – Maya Angelou

If we are to have peace on earth…our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.  – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here is wishing each of you peace in a time of turmoil.

Namaste,

PS:  true translation of Namaste is “I bow to you.”

This Week's Word and Thought: Kindness

As my initial audience knows, I stopped writing my blog regularly over a year ago.  There were many reasons for this, but primarily I had concerns over what right do I have to express my opinion on many world events and human behavior.  I have decided that as a member of humanity, I do have a right to speak my mind, but have also decided for it to be on a smaller weekly scale.

At work I do a weekly email titled "This Week's Word and Thought" and I want to share those thoughts with a broader audience.  I hope you enjoy!  Namaste, Tom

"Kindness in words creates confidence.

Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.

Kindness in giving creates love."  - Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu, or "Old Master," is an honorary title for the ancient Chinese man whose original name was Li Er. As a saint or deity, he is known by many names, including Lao Jun and Lao Dan. He is credited with founding philosophical and religious Daoism.

Little is truly known about the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (sometimes also known as Laozi or Lao Tze), who is a guiding figure in Daoism (also translated as Taoism), a still popular spiritual practice. He is said to have been a record keeper in the court of the central Chinese Zhou Dynasty in the 6th century B.C., and an older contemporary of Confucius. This could be true, but he may also have been entirely mythical—much like Homer in Western culture. It is certainly very unlikely that (as some legends say) he was conceived when his mother saw a falling star, or born an old man with very long earlobes – or lived 990 years.

You can read more about him, whether real or mythical, at 

http://bit.ly/thephilosphersmail_LaoTzu